Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf, who headed the Afghan bureau of the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence service, claimed that the CIA paid $5,000 for the first AK-74—the new Soviet assault rifle that fired the smaller cartridge—captured in Afghanistan in the 1980s.57 At other times a weapon can assume an aura, and aura similarly affects price.

While one cylinder was filled with four AK-74 rifles, the other was containing 24 AK magazines, 420 rounds, four prepared IEDs, one transistor fitted IED, 15 Chinese hand grenades, one IED charger and an IED receiver, the sources said.